National Health Service suggests 1.7million Brits 'may already be infected' with Coronavirus

The National Health Service (NHS) in the UK has suggested that more than 1.7million Brits may already have contracted coronavirus.

In a new report, the NHS said since March 18, a total of 1,496,651 people registered only symptoms in line with Covid-19, while almost a quarter of a million were assessed as potential patients via 111 and 999 calls.

The news comes after Prime Minister Boris Johnson spoke about the loss of lives, after the Department of Health confirmed a record increase of deaths during the coronavirus pandemic.

“Let’s be in no doubt this has been a sad, sad day,” Mr Johnson said in a video message posted on Twitter.

“But let’s be in no doubt that if we can follow the programme that we are currently set upon, if we can comply with the measures that we’ve embarked on together, then I have absolutely no doubt that we will begin to start to push those numbers down,” he said.

At a press briefing on Wednesday, Business Secretary Alok Sharma said the people must continue to follow government guidance and stay at home.

He said: “People will understand across the country why we have put these restrictions in place and the Prime Minister was very clear they were for an initial three-week period and we would review them.

“But what’s also really important is that if we stop these too quickly, there is a possibility that that massive effort people have made across the country is wasted and we could potentially see a dangerous second peak.”

In the UK, there are more than 29,000 cases of Coronavirus and 2000 deaths.